flightliner
Well-known member
Earlier in the year there was much said about the autumn monthes for its traditional good river roach fishing. Has/is yours living up to expectations to date or is it proving to be dissapointing?
Roach fishing autumn--Hows your's going.
- Thread starter flightliner
- Start date
dezza
Well-known member
Shortly my beloved River Idle should be coming on stream as the roach shoal up in certain swims which are totally unmentionable.
Find a good spot as I have done in the past and you could be in for a red letter day. Yet there are parts of the river where you can sit and never have a bite in weeks.
Find a good spot as I have done in the past and you could be in for a red letter day. Yet there are parts of the river where you can sit and never have a bite in weeks.
Not been out yet.
captainbarnacles
Well-known member
No coincidence harvey , youll always get the bigger fish on the bomb mate. They seem to prefer a static bate is the reason. But having said that you may want to try the float , but instead of trotting through try laying on. Fish over depth with a couple of aaa laying tight on the bottom and hold the float back still. nicer way of fishing rather than a bomb i think. And youll get some nice fish too. Just feed as normal to atract the small ones and the bigguns will follow in. tight lines.
flightliner
Well-known member
Mine to date has been really really good, from mid september up to this week I have had some large bags of real quality roach-- prior to this period hemp n tare have been ok but the going bait for me is now the humble maggot. Some of the roach have been consistantly bigger than in recant years with a few almost as big as some that I had a few years ago which have pushed up the final weight of fish. Strange isnt it, that roach taken in the early part of the season were mainly small but come the autumn monthes and the quality just goes thro the roof. The recant frosts have slowed things down a bit however so if you havent started yet in your efforts to take a few decant bags it would be prudent not to leave it to late
Mark Wintle
Well-known member
Had plenty of roach but only to a pound. Hoping for plenty tomorrow but that's cos it's in a match.
flightliner
Well-known member
All the best with the match, is it on a stillwater or river? The guy with the big two pound plus roach taken on the ribble (was it?)made my mouth water. Hens teeth come to mind!
Mark Wintle
Well-known member
The match was tad hard and on the tidal Dorset Stour. I had 220 fish for 1-12 including a nice perch. worth the effort cos we won the team event overall but the roach were very scarce and tiny. 220? 200 minnows plus tiny roach, dace and bleak and the perch who probably thought he'd gone to heaven inside my keepnet.
flightliner
Well-known member
Good God! I never thought I would here the day when a river like the Stour would be so bereft of a thing like a half decent roach Mark.
It almost sounds as if the river is like the old river Don was back in the early eighties-- back then in Sheffield it was just turning a corner after years of pollution. I used to work every friday by the side of it on a length known as Salmon Pastures (back in the victorian times apprentices almost revolted against thier employers because they were fed up of having to eat them!)where there were millions of true minnows. A little later roach and chub began to show up after a thunderstorm apparently flooded the route along the A1 road around the Newark/Sheffield area - well- thats what I heard anyway.
Nontheless-- as they used to say in Sheffield angling circles after a 200 plus catch on float--TOP PIMPING!
Mark-- I gather from what you say from time to time that you like nothing better than running a line down moving water-- if you are ever up near the Trent give it a whirl -- in recant weeks it been on really good form with the stick for roach.
ps, the Dons pretty good as well these days.
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Mark Wintle
Well-known member
The better fish are there but not showing. We had a full moon night last night which is usually an ill omen, and no helped by a wicked downstream and in wind but that said not sure the wind was the problem. The river is very stale, but after the last flush about three weeks ago it fished well for roach in many areas. Could do with a big flood early November then it'll be good for roach. The match sec. fished a boat further down yesterday and found a load of good roach in a big slack totally out of the blue, getting 20lbs of roach.
Last fished the Trent late 80s and always enjoyed it. Had a couple of 5 day breaks fishing various venues on stick and waggler catching mainly roach, some chub and silver bream.
Just wish the Thames wasn't a 190 mile round trip ( the Trent is 400 mile round trip) as that is a favourite roach venue, Had 14lb of roach the other week plus a big chub.
Last fished the Trent late 80s and always enjoyed it. Had a couple of 5 day breaks fishing various venues on stick and waggler catching mainly roach, some chub and silver bream.
Just wish the Thames wasn't a 190 mile round trip ( the Trent is 400 mile round trip) as that is a favourite roach venue, Had 14lb of roach the other week plus a big chub.
flightliner
Well-known member
Looks like yours and my catches are pretty similar, I had a big float caught chub a week or so ago .---
Well-- after all the summers optimism about autumn roach it would appear that only a very few have /or are bothering with them??-- ummmmm.
dezza
Well-known member
Ja well the Trent is a 65 mile round trip for me, and I'm now in on an exclusive 2 mile stretch of the Tidal. When I get rid of this cold, I'll be down there.
And there is also the Idle.
And there is also the Idle.
Nigel Connor
Well-known member
Not yet time for the Roach for me Flightliner. A few more frosts and a flood or two before the Avon is in its winter trim.
Mark Wintle
Well-known member
Four more weeks (3rd week of Nov onwards) and two big floods to get the rivers in winter trim. The frosts never do anything except kill the nettles and the three (-5 in October!) we've had so far have done nothing on that score - stung to wotsit by nettles and a poxy wasp's nest in the peg as well, also active. The weed died back in August but takes two months to rot down which is how it is at present; rotten and breaks easily enough but the foul muck is still in the way until a few trees have swept it away. One year 1998 we did not have a single air frost and possibly no ground frosts yet the weed went exactly the same timings. The frosts don't stop minnows either judging by how they showed at the weekend. Needing frosts is an old angler's urban myth.
The best fishing so far was about 3 weeks ago when the colour was in the river and the two I fished (no make it three) all produced loads of roach. I'm hoping warmer weather later this week will stir something into feeding, got enough bait in the fridge!
The best fishing so far was about 3 weeks ago when the colour was in the river and the two I fished (no make it three) all produced loads of roach. I'm hoping warmer weather later this week will stir something into feeding, got enough bait in the fridge!
flightliner
Well-known member
Fair comments guys,Ron, two mile of exclusive tidal, thats a lot of lower river, the two longest streches that I know of are the Collingham reach and the Barbel soc' water at Sutton.
Mark, its about the same on the river here, in a few short weeks the fishing will slow right down for me so I have been making hay so to speak.
Today I legged it down to a swim I havent fished since the early seventies (a --llbreaker) and it was just like I remembered it- deep right under the rod tip- no rocks on the deck and with a steady straight pull. For the first time in years I allowed myself the luxury of stret pegging it with both maggot and worm-- the roach were stunning.
Up here for me the winter monthes will be pretty barren, but the odd "window" in the weather will hopefully give me a few of what I am after.
Re the wasps-- yes they are active, I was beside the river Idle on saterday and they were everywhere !!!!
Mark, its about the same on the river here, in a few short weeks the fishing will slow right down for me so I have been making hay so to speak.
Today I legged it down to a swim I havent fished since the early seventies (a --llbreaker) and it was just like I remembered it- deep right under the rod tip- no rocks on the deck and with a steady straight pull. For the first time in years I allowed myself the luxury of stret pegging it with both maggot and worm-- the roach were stunning.
Up here for me the winter monthes will be pretty barren, but the odd "window" in the weather will hopefully give me a few of what I am after.
Re the wasps-- yes they are active, I was beside the river Idle on saterday and they were everywhere !!!!
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Neil Maidment
Moderator
I fished the Itchen on Sunday but it was a bit "stale", still had a good day with the Grayling and a few trout. But it had risen slighlty and held a tinge of colour. That little bit of extra water did clear out some of the rubbish but as Nigel and Mark have said, a few more weeks needed, hopefully a couple of good floods and then prospects will be looking up.
chav professor
Well-known member
I suppose it doesn't matter with the perch eating your valued catch - total sum weight remains the same....
It's interesting you mention minnows. my experiences (very limited) on the Hampshire Avon is that if you float fish maggot in the day, you could never feed off the little critters. infact heavy feeding just makes matters worse. especially when they try to eat the float as well!!
Do they dissapear a little later on in the season?
captainbarnacles
Well-known member
Use it to your advantage , take 2 rods one set up with heavier line and a size 8 hook and a nice bobber so when you do catch a minnow put it on the other rod and have a nice perch or chub. Tight lines.